Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last penny.
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Content warning: This diary discusses an eating disorder which some readers may find distressing.
This week: “I wrote my first money diary in 2020 when I was living in Edinburgh and still had a couple of years of my undergrad to go. At the time I thought I’d go on to do a master’s degree in health psychology. As it turned out, I discovered that sexology existed as a thing and that I could study it if I left the UK and moved to Australia. I’ve been out here for 15 months now and during that time, I’ve moved from Perth to Melbourne. I knew I was likely to find shifting from a part-time mode of study to a full-time master’s challenging but I couldn’t have predicted how much harder things would be thanks to a hefty dose of mental health challenges. I went back to Scotland for Christmas so I could meet and spend time with my baby nephew and there was a good while where I considered not coming back out to Australia and finishing my course remotely. I gave myself a kick up the arse and decided to uproot my life again to move to Melbourne and I am so incredibly glad that I did. I love the city, I’ve got an amazing housemate (+ two dogs) and I’m feeling wayyyyy better (something I’m struggling to trust/am finding disconcerting honestly). I will be finishing my course in the next couple of months and then plan to move back to the UK sometime before August. I have no idea where I’m going to end up or what I’m going to end up doing but I’m so keen to never study ever again and build a more stable life for myself.”
Occupation: Student/bar worker
Industry: Education/hospitality
Age: 28
Location: Melbourne
Salary: Variable but on average £360/week + tips
Number of housemates: One + x2 dogs
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: My share is £528
Loan payments: N/A
Savings?: I’ve got maybe (?) £3k in a Help To Buy ISA, £1k in premium bonds and £1.25k in tips.
Pension?: Yes — absolutely no idea how much.
Utilities: £38 gas and electric every two months, £10 wifi monthly, £19 phone bill monthly.
All other monthly payments: £26 gym, £4.99 Spotify (student rate), £9 Netflix, £3.50 Substack, £2.99 iCloud, £5 charity (a pathetic amount I know).
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I studied my undergraduate degree with the Open University and studied my course part-time over the course of five years. My parents covered the costs of my degree in its entirety, for which I am very grateful. After I graduated, I applied for one master’s programme because a) there wasn’t a lot of choice in terms of places that offer sexology as a master’s b) the only other place that offered the master’s was a university in the U.S. and being in the U.S. wasn’t an idea I was keen on. I have paid for the course with money (£26k) my parents have gifted to me over the years (an equivalent amount to that they gave to my sister to help with a house deposit). International student fees here are heftyyyyyy.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
We were comfortably middle class and honestly didn’t really have any conversations about money at all. If anything, my parents discouraged talking about money and were always freaked out by my school friends having knowledge and awareness of how much their parents paid for things. My sister and I both went to private school from the age of 10 so I was always aware of there being people around me who’ve had a silly amount of money, which by comparison, made it feel like we were average-ly well off. I only began to appreciate how well off we’d been growing up when I left school and began actually interacting in/with the real world. Though this appreciation is now firmly in place, I continue to feel like I’m lacking in financial literacy.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents/guardians house?
I was admitted to an eating disorder unit as an inpatient aged 18 and kind of lived between the hospital, university halls and my mum’s house the first year after I left school (at age 19). I think I was 21 before I no longer had (inpatient) contact with the hospital and was ‘allowed’ to move out of home to rent somewhere with flatmates instead.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
I asked my parents to stop sending me a monthly allowance when I was 23. Up until then I’d been working part-time and/or been unable to work because of my eating disorder and had relied upon having their support to cover my living expenses. Tuition fees aside, no other aspect of my financial life is currently covered by anyone but lil ol’ me.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
When I was 15, I worked in a local café in the village we went on holiday to every year. I worked this job in each of the school holidays over the course of a couple of years.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes — because I’m in Australia on a student visa there are restrictions on how many hours I can work. Though I am currently earning more than I need to cover my expenses and even have a wee bit to spare, this is the first time since being out here that I’ve been able to even begin to build a financial cushion. I spent all the money I had to relocate to Australia and then to move from Perth to Melbourne and feel stressed knowing how much I’m going to have to spend again to resettle in the UK. It makes me feel really vulnerable knowing that the money I earn week to week is all the money I have/knowing that I haven’t got savings to fall back on in the event of emergencies.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
Yes, my parents gifted me £26k to cover the cost of my master’s. They gave me this money at the same time as they gifted the same amount to my sister which was actually a good bit of time ahead of when I applied for my course. I’d be lying if I said I felt like tuition fees was the best or most sensible use of this money and I do wonder about a parallel life where I’d used it for something else instead.
Day One
3:30 a.m. — Get home from work and drop almost immediately into slumber.
8:25 a.m. — Rude awakening. Go through the motions of getting myself up and ready for the day and feel yet again the weight of the realisation that my wardrobe is completely and utterly unprepared for the impending cooler/wetter weather.
8:55 a.m. — Bundle out the door looking and feeling like shit and walk four minutes up the road to wait for the tram. I constantly strive to be early when catching Melbourne public transport because, though just as likely to be late, things often arrive earlier than scheduled.
9:07 a.m. — Settle myself down on the tram and watch some YouTube (Anna Newton) on my commute across town, trying to resist the seductive pull of having a lil’ nap.
9:50 a.m. — Disembark from the tram and head to my placement supervisor’s (M’s) house via a café. I’m not familiar with this part of town and today is only the second time I’m here for placement so I reckon I’m going to take it upon myself to try out various cafés for a wee while until I have a favourite. Pick up a cappuccino with almond milk for M and a flat white with oat milk for me. Today isn’t a particularly good example but the coffee prices here are insanely good compared to the UK. I’d almost pay this much for a singular coffee back home I reckon, £6.24.
10 a.m. — Arrive at M’s for placement. This module of the course requires me to do 100 hours (unpaid) with an organisation or business of my choosing. Last week the various forms were finally complete and I started working with M who has a sexual wellness and events brand. I’m coming on board to do anything and everything she wants me to do and am v v v excited about it! Lots of my coursemates are doing more traditional and/or ‘worthy’ type placements but I love that I’m doing something a bit different.
1:30 p.m. — Finish up with M and head home (bus). I spent the morning putting together an email debriefing an event the brand put on last week. The email will be all good to go later in the week once the images are back from the photographer and I genuinely think I’ll feel proud of myself to see it come into my inbox.
12:30 p.m. — Get home, reheat some leftovers (chana masala and cumin-y greens) and get back to the task I started at M’s just before I left, putting together a bunch of companies that might be potential stockists for her brand. This ends up taking me a long time but I want to get it done so it doesn’t seep over into the next day. I’m really keen to only have to work on placement on dedicated placement days (Monday and Friday) so I leave the rest of the week for my other units.
6:15 p.m. — Head out the door again and catch the train to get to my friend H’s house. Catch up with her and her partner whilst they put together dinner (absolutely banging Ottolenghi tacos). I made cookies for the occasion yesterday and today present my offering of the raw balls for us to bake later. H and I are members of the Society of Australian Sexologists which is hosting a talk on the healing power of sexual fantasies tonight. We hook up H’s laptop to the TV and watch the talk with her partner, her house mate and housemate’s partner. Dinner is insanely delicious and I have a moment of feeling really content and lowkey emotional at what a lovely evening it’s been. I had a really tricky first year out in Australia and made the decision to move from Perth to Melbourne to finish my course remotely, hoping that this would help (and my god it has). Tonight is the first time in I don’t even know how long that I’ve had an evening like this which makes me equal parts happy and sad to think about.
10:15 p.m. — Get back home, shower and decide to finish up my placement task so I can schedule it to be sent over first thing in the morning.
Total: £6.25
Day Two
7:50 a.m. — Wake up naturally just before my alarm. I haven’t honestly managed to find my groove with a regular wake up time yet this semester but this is generally around the time I’d get up when I’ve not had work the night before. Have a slow start to the day giving myself the time to watch some YouTube and generally fanny about a bit on the internet.
10 a.m. — Actually get started with my day and spend the morning planning on/getting going with one of the assessments I’ve got looming. It is a weird one that requires us to look at the course learning outcomes for the master’s and address how we’ve achieved each of them throughout the course of our study. It should be a relatively quick and easy assignment to bash out compared to the research-based papers we normally have but I still reckon it will take me the best part of a week to get done.
12:30 p.m. — I was about to go and make some food but got sidetracked making a Google form for another of my modules. Inevitably takes me the best part of half an hour because I’m technologically inept. Manage to then spend the next hour sat on the kitchen floor gabbing away to my housemate, C, and her girlfriend, J. Make scrambled tofu, baked beans and avo toast and munch away on some corn cakes and hummus whilst am cooking.
3:30 p.m. — Book a flight to Sydney for next Friday, £85. My housemate and her girlfriend are driving up on Thursday but I’ve got work and placement so I am going to fly up and then drive back with them on Monday. Really excited to have a little break on the horizon and will be so nice to spend some quality time with C and J and see some of Sydney.
5 p.m. — Managed to squeeze a wee bit more work out then shower and spend far too long trying to find something to wear to look nice but not too nice and casual but not too casual for meeting up with one of my mates (B) (who I used to date and am more than a bit interested in shagging again). Whilst on the bus to meet him I have a call with my uni group to check in on how we’re going with our project and what we’re wanting/needing to do this week on it.
6:30 p.m. — Meet B at a bar and have time for a mini catch up before the comedy gig we’re there to see (he bought the tickets). It’s a preview and the first half was a complete riot but it went a tad downhill towards the end. A good show none the less. B and I walk 15 minutes down the road to an Ethiopian place for dinner, I pay £20.62. He moved from the UK to Australia a few months before I did but we haven’t been based in the same place. He is now preparing to move to Melbourne so we will have a few months crossover before I go back home. Every time we’ve hung out since we dated I’m reminded I don’t want to date him again but that I would like to shag him which I feel like is the perfect place to be, right?! We have a really nice evening together but didn’t feel the time was right to make a move.
10:30 p.m. — Get home (via bus) and fold the pile of discarded clothes I left on my bed. Catch up on an episode of Made in Chelsea, skincare and hit the hay accompanied by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Total: £105.62
Day Three
7:30 a.m. — Wake up before my alarm again, do my skincare and have a slow start to the day catching up on messages/notifications from friends and family in the UK from overnight.
9 a.m. — Start looking at the next assignment for my sexological education module which requires us to plan out a two-hour workshop for a target group of our choice on a topic of our choice and produce a flyer to advertise said workshop and a rationale to justify our choice of topic. I go between a couple of ideas but settle on sexual difficulties in young women with ADHD because this is also what my group project is on and will allow me to use a lot of the resources I already have.
12:30 a.m. — Take the scenic route and walk along the river to get to the gym where I do a 45 minutes reformer Pilates class and then take the more direct route back home. Walking listening is this week’s episode of Big Small Talk. Shower, hair wash and then reheat leftover tofu scramble and beans and whack on some avo toast.
2:30 p.m. — Check in with B who says he is keen to go to another couple of comedy shows tonight. I pick up tickets for myself, £39.81. Continue doing some reading for the assignment from this morning then do some work on my group project.
6 p.m. — Not feeling particularly hungry but know that if I don’t eat now then I won’t until I get back from seeing B later so I do my classic of opening the fridge and cupboards and grazing on a few bits (corn cakes, yogurt, apple, chocolate). Get changed and head out the door to get the tram and meet B.
7:45 p.m. — Meet B and wander to the first venue. The show is good but the resounding feeling I have coming away from it is that I want to have a smol cry and give the comedian a hug. We head round the corner to the second venue and I pick us up a couple of drinks before the show, £4.80.
10:30 p.m. — Back homeeee. Second show was a very different kettle of fish. Came away from this one quite keen to go down the pub with the comedian and become his pal. Didn’t have much actual chatting time with B tonight because the shows were so back-to-back but we’re going to see each other again on Friday and Saturday. I am determined to make a move of some form at some point. When I get home I do my skincare, clamber into bed and watch some YouTube then put on my Harry Potter audiobook and pass out almost immediately.
Total: £44.61
Day Four
8:25 a.m. — Wake up before my alarm againnnn! Set it a wee bit later today because I’ve got work tonight and I’m not currently in a napping phase of life so won’t catch any extra zzzzz before my shift. Again, I spend too long catching up on messages and notifications from the UK, fannying about on the internet and writing up my money diary from yesterday. Various internet antics accompanied by listening to The News Agents.
9:38 a.m. — Actually get out of bed, do skincare and start my day. Catch up watching the recording of a drop-in session for the group project that I couldn’t attend earlier in the week. End up in a low-level spiral after watching the session and start looking at the information for the next assessment. Create a page for my group and to brainstorm for the next phase of our project and send them over a link.
11:30 a.m. — Make myself a bucket of coffee (I packed my fave mug when I moved here because I’m a lunatic) and scoff a couple of medjool dates with a lot of peanut butter. Do some solo brainstorming work then head out the door and take the scenic route to the gym (listening to Everything is Content) for reformer. I’d ideally like to do more of a balance of reformer classes, strength training and cardio but I’m increasingly leaning way more into reformer purely because it means I just need to rock up and do what I’m told rather than having to actually engage my brain to think out a workout.
2:30 p.m. — Get back from the gym and meal prep food to take to work and make scrambled tofu, beans and avo toast for whatever meal this currently is. If it isn’t already apparent, I’m the kind of person who hyperfixates on a meal, makes it on a loop until I get bored of it and then don’t eat it again until the cycle repeats itself in three months’ time. Cooking and eating is accompanied by catching up on an episode of Married at First Sight Australia.
3:30 p.m. — Cram a wee bit of uni work in then jump on the weekly check-in call I have with my uni group and project supervisor. We have a productive session going through a few ideating exercises to think up potential solutions we could produce to help young women with ADHD who experience sexual difficulties.
5 p.m. — Shower and get ready for work then head out the door to the train station. The journey to work takes me around 50 minutes door to door depending on transport. Forgot my book today so instead do a combo of podcast listening (Fucks Given by Come Curious) and YouTube watching (Lizzy Hadfield).
2:30 a.m. — Pretty average level of busy-ness for a Thursday night. I genuinely really enjoy the job and the place I work. I’m someone who never thought I could work a bar job because I thought the hours or the environment would be too much (I’ve been sober for two years) but I’ve been having a great time. Other than a Friday and Saturday night there is only one member of staff on a time so I’m left to my own devices/to my own thoughts a lot of the time and have ample opportunity for chatting to the regulars, the girls and/or observing the general goings on. I’d never been to a strip club before I started this job but I’m now so keen to go to more, both here and back home, just to see for myself what the differences are (the British girls have told me that they’re stark). Have one customer interaction that wasn’t particularly enjoyable tonight (read: racist, sleezy and misogynistic) but it was totally manageable. Finish the night not feeling too knackered and with £65 in tips. My mate who normally gives me a lift home is away so I get an Uber home instead, £9.29.
Total: £9.29
Day Five
8:30 a.m. — My only window for working out today is early-ish this morning or I’d maybe have stayed in bed a wee bit longer. Out the door I go to reformer.
10 a.m. — Back from reformer via the shop where I picked up a few bits (tomatoes, mushrooms, avo, bread, tofu, corn cakes, hummus, peanut butter), £16.79. I’d normally go to Aldi for fruit and veg and then Woolies for other stuff but I was running short on time today so Woolies it was.
10:15 a.m. — Eat leftover tofu scramble and beans and avo and hummus on toast then do some uni work. Manage to do some half productive stuff and then get totally sucked into faffing about on Canva.
12:15 a.m. — Just got changed and got my stuff together to head out the door for placement when M messages and suggests we work remotely today instead. Get changed back out of clothes and into trackies because duh. SOMEHOW MANAGE TO GET SUCKED INTO CANVA AGAIN. Unbelievable. Genuinely what have I actually achieved today?!
1:45 p.m. — Manage to fall down a new rabbit hole and get sidetracked by engaging in dialogue with ChatGPT on ideas on how to enact my plan to come onto B later. I am truly going to block myself from using ChatGPT after I’ve finished uni but for some reason one of my modules is actively encouraging us to use it. Catch up on writing yesterday’s money diary to make self feel like have done something productive.
2:30 p.m. — Have a call with M to go over tasks for me to work on this afternoon and have a more general chat on upcoming bits and bobs.
4 p.m. — Spend precisely too long going over imagery from the event last week and going back and forth on choosing which ones to include. Have just finished drafting the email when I receive a message from B saying he’s invited along another of his mates tonight. AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH. FML universe. What has a gal to do?!
6 p.m. — Check in with M and confirm I can call it a day. Have a quick shower, change and get out the door to meet B and his mate at a bar. B failed to be explicit in saying that said mate, S, is the same S I know from a camping trip we went on a few months back. A nice surprise! Any feelings I had of annoyance immediately disappear. Excited to have more time hanging out with her because we really got on.
9 p.m. — Comedy show was okkkkk but probably the one I’ve enjoyed least from this week. Head to an Italian place for dinner and order a delish courgette-y, tomato-y, almond-y pasta and focaccia (to share). Is spenny-ish but portion is massive and it feels like a real treat to not be working on a Friday night for a change, £25.52.
1 a.m. — Get back home (via tram). We went to a rooftop bar after dinner and S got the round in. I went up to the bar with her and asked if she knew if B was seeing anyone to which she replied that she thought he was… but she hadn’t got into talking to him about it. Feel disappointed and a tad led on and resolve to address it directly with him tomorrow so I know where I stand. There are mixed signals are flying alllll over the place and I’m BORED.
Total: £42.31
Day Six
7:45 a.m. — Wake up pre-alarm. One of my best mates back home is still awake and we have a call for an hour to catch up and chat shit. Make a hot water, bucket of coffee and armed with a spoon and a few dates, I do some damage on my new jar of PB. Finish up the episode of MAFS from the other day whilst writing up my placement log for uni.
10:30 a.m. — Skincare, get suncream-d up, dressed and pop to the café round the corner to nab a table for B and I for brunch. I have a hojicha late and acai bowl and B pays for us both.
12 p.m. — Head to Salvos to try and find B a few bits for a wedding he has coming up. Secure the goods and manage to restrain self from buying anything (win). Take the scenic route along the river to get to the park where we devastatingly arrive five minutes after the farmers’ market got packed up. Lounge about in the sun for the afternoon photosynthesising.
4 p.m. — Duck back home quickly en route to the pub, quick turn around then out the door again for the evening. I get the drinks in and a portion of chips with gravy and spring onion, £23.98. Whilst consuming said items, the conversation comes round to dating in a tangential way and I finally take the opportunity to ask B what his current situ is. Turns out he has been dating someone since the start of the year. At the time I feel nothing about this which I feel affirms that there were no romantic feelings attached to my desire to shag him.
7 p.m. — S joins at the pub and we get some scran in. S and I share mushroom tacos and vegan chicken wings, £7.67 inc. tip. Head across the road to a bar and again each buy our own drinks, £2.40. Then head across road again to another pub for a birthday shindig situ and each buy our own drinks, £2.40. Go back to the previous bar which has now (supposedly) turned more into a dance-y type venue. Struggle to have a boogie accompanied by pure beats and so call it a night at 11 p.m.
11:30 p.m. — Get home and debrief on the B situ with C and J and catch up on their days. With their encouragement, I text a gal whose number I got at an event last week to see if she wants to meet up to go to a comedy show together next week. This week has solidified/validated certain quibbles I’d historically had with B’s style of communication (or lack thereof) with me and I honestly feel annoyed at myself for having given him as much of my mental energy this week as I have.
1 a.m. — Shower, into bed, episode of Friends and Harry Potter audiobook.
Total: £36.45
Day Seven
11 a.m. — Phworrrrr that’s more like it. I did wake up a good few times from 7 a.m. onwards but I had the perseverance and dedication to get the feck back to sleep again. Catch up on messages from back home, skincare and get to some uni work.
12.30pm — Break to make some… that’s right! Scrambled tofu! Crack on with another couple of hours of work then turn attention to doing a wee bit more on the placement task I started on Friday. Have a phatttt choc chip cookie from the freezer (leftover from the start of the week). Do honestly feel really bleugh in my body after how I’ve eaten this week but trying my best not to let it get to me.
4.30pm — FaceTime with my mum, sister and baby nephew. We generally manage to catch up once a week and it’s something I always make time for regardless of what else I’ve got going on. Get ready for work whilst catching up with them.
6 pm — Head out the door for work. I’d normally make and take food with me but just didn’t have the time or ingredients to pull anything together today. One of the guys at work orders in a few dhals and rice and insists I eat half.
3:30 am — Pretty good night for a Sunday. A few of the regulars are in who I’ve not seen for a while AND I come away with £115 in tips which beats my previous highest record by £7. My mate gives me a lift home from work and I waste noooo time getting tucked up in bed with Harry Potter.
Total: £0
The Breakdown
“I was talking to my flatmate about this and we agreed we’ve both spent the last week living like we have no responsibilities and an endless amount of money to play with. I cannot state enough how much this is not a typical week at all for me in terms of a) how little I achieved with uni work b) how many social plans I had c) how much money I spent on food/eating out. Even though I feel more than a bit of panic at how the past week panned out because of this, I also feel so grateful that I’ve started to build enough of a financial cushion that I can have weeks like this. A week like this would also have been impossible during either of the previous semesters because the deadline schedule was so insane that — even if I had the money to have a week like this — I simply didn’t have the time. Having spent all of last year feeling like I might as well have been anywhere, I’m really grateful for the place I’m in now with uni, finances and my social life.”
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